TheMotion on the Minority Faction

Adopted: November 12-18, 1946 First Published:January 1947Source:Fourth International, New York, Volume 8, No.1, January 1947, page 31.Transcribed/HTML Markup: Daniel Gaido and David Walters, February, 2006Public Domain: Encyclopedia of Trotskyism On-Line 2006. You can freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit the Marxists Internet Archive as your source, include the url to this work, and note the transcribers & proofreaders above.

The 12th Convention of the SWP, on the basis of the reports of the Control Commission and the records of the National Committee and the Political Committee, has established the following facts:

1) The May 1946 Plenum censured the Goldman-Morrow faction for repeated and systematic violations of party discipline and acts of disloyalty to the party and warned them to cease and desist.

2) Confronted with this decision of the Plenum the Goldman section of the faction withdrew from the party, formally joined the Shachtmanites and utilizes the Shachtmanite press and platform to attack the SWP as a venomous enemy.

3) The Morrow section elected to remain in the party and promised the Plenum that they would be loyal and disciplined in the future, while continuing to defend their political positions in the party, as was their full right. However, in practice they proved that their statement to the Plenum was not made in good faith, but on the contrary was an unworthy stratagem designed to deceive the party and abuse its tolerance to continue their disloyal and disruptive activities. They even went so far as to organize a campaign to sabotage party funds. These facts have been fully demonstrated and proved in the report of the Control Commission and the minutes of the Political Committee.

In order to protect the party from any further disruption, the Convention therefore resolves as follows:

A) Felix Morrow and David Jeffries, the leaders of this disloyal faction, are hereby expelled from the party.

B) The other members of the faction are hereby given one final opportunity to return to the path of party loyalty and one final warning that the slightest violation of party discipline on their part in the future will result in their immediate expulsion.

The National Committee and its Political Committee, as well as all subordinate party units which may be concerned are instructed to carry out this decision to the letter, and without any delays or modifications, in case of any further violations of party discipline on the part of the minority.